MORE THAN BREAD
I seem to be reminded of a song every time I sit down to write a sermon. Another song came to mind this week, a U2 song by Bono called “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”
Throughout the song, Bono tells of all the experiences he’s had in life but still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. He’s climbed mountains; he’s scaled city walls; he’s had physical relationships; he has spoken even with the tongues of angels. But he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. Then he adds this: He says he believes in the Kingdom come and sings “You broke the bonds and you loosed my chains; carried the Cross of my shame. You know I believe it.”
Sounds good, right? Except that he follows this declaration with the chorus, “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Bono seems to have an understanding of Jesus, how he died on the cross to break the bonds and loose the chains and bear his shame. But he says it’s not satisfying that ache inside of him, that yearning for meaning in life and purpose in living.
How many of us are like that? We know the gospel; we have a mental knowledge of Jesus; we know the Bible, but it’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for something else. We want our yearning to be satisfied on our own terms.
Here is Jesus, the bread of life. The satisfaction we hunger for is staring us in the face, but we want something else. We are hungry. We are offered barley bread. We are starving for what Jesus has, but we want rye bread or whole wheat. Oh, and I don’t like fish. Even though you are starving.
Our story in John 6:1-15 is about more than filling empty stomachs; it’s about satisfying that hunger for something more in the man, Jesus Christ. He is more than bread; he is the Bread of Life.
You know this story well. It has been told four times in the gospel accounts. I will not go over every detail. Instead, I will highlight the dominant themes in each section.
1. Jesus Conducts a Crowd Test (6:1-6; 66)
Do you know what a crowd test is? It’s where a company allows real people to test electronic devices in real-world conditions. Apple did this with the iPhone. The device was put through daily wear-and-tear tests, drop-tested, put through heat and cold, and subjected to the wettest situations. Then Apple could sell a product with durability.
By this time, Jesus is getting famous. Crowds are following him, searching for him, hoping to see a miracle. In this incident, twenty thousand people surround him. John 6 is a type of crowd test conducted by Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus was preaching all day and, like a good preacher, had compassion on the people because he knew they were getting hungry. They want miracles. He speaks words of God. They get hungry. Jesus feeds them in an epic miracle.
With their physical hunger satisfied, Jesus tells them what they really need. They need him. And from a PR or advertising perspective, Jesus blows it. He uses an illustration they can’t stomach. He says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the world,” (51). Jesus tells the crowd, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” How does that sound? Gross.
After this event, Jesus’ popularity takes a nosedive. John 6:66 says, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” In terms of building an empire, this is a fail. But this is what Jesus does – he reveals the people’s true need, their real hunger, and offers himself as the satisfaction. Many say, “That’s not what I’m looking for.” And they leave. You know, Jesus is okay with that.
Jesus is not into popularity. He’s not into big crowds. He’s looking for followers who see their need and comprehend that Jesus is the One who more than fills their longing. Jesus looks at big crowds following him and says, “Pick up your cross and follow me.” That’s not what most people want.
2. Responding to the Test (6:7-9)
What are people looking for? These people want a king who can supply food when times are lean. They want a king who will deliver them from the tyranny of a bad leader. They want an instant fix. When Jesus doesn’t do for them what they want, they move on to the next option.
There is another test in this story. This one tests those who are closer to Jesus (6). Surveying the crowd, Jesus asks Philip who knows the area, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (5b)
Philip does the mental math. He looks at their resources. What do they have? Looks at the vast number of people. Then in hopelessness he says, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” (7). 200 denarii. A small fortune.
Sharon did the math for Katy’s wedding and how many pizzas we will need. She reckoned it was cost nearly 2000 dollars for 200 people. Think about 20,000 people.
We would respond like Philip did. We look at our own resources and we determine that our own resources are not enough. If we look at our own situations and make this a real-world test for ourselves, you and I tend to look at breaking a bad habit, achieving a goal, building a better marriage, and other things we long for, and we find our resources lacking.
Monika Hellwig connects physical hunger with spiritual hunger and says that we each have a deep need for fullness in some respect. Love or to be loved. To be valued or appreciated. To have a purpose or goal in life. Those who are unfulfilled in this drive, she says, are found to be hoarding and wasting their material resources while others starve. Said simply, if we look at the world through the lens of scarcity, we will never have enough. If we try to feed our spiritual hunger with the things of the world, we will never find that hunger satisfied.
Andrew fairs no better. We think of Andrew showing great faith by bringing a young boy with a small lunch to Jesus saying, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (9). It’s not faith. It’s despair. Andrew only mentions it to underline the ludicrous inadequacy of this small lunch.
How do we respond to the test? When Jesus asks us to do something, do we look at our resources? Or do we see him?
3. The Sign of Sufficiency (6:10-13)
Every scholar and every resource I read this week agreed that the miracle is bigger than we realize. That’s why I say there were 20,000 people present for this miraculous feeding. Jesus says, “Have the people sit down” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there), (10). Two different words are used in this verse: one includes men, women, and children; John uses the other to emphasize that there were 5000 men present specifically.
Jesus takes the loaves and gives thanks to God. The typical Jewish prayer is, “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” We don’t know what happened next. Imagine sheepish disciples moving through the crowd with bags or baskets handing out bread and fish. Each time they reach into what they imagine is an empty basket, they pull out a loaf…again…and again. Barley bread is the food of insane animals and poor people, but I bet that bread went down easy.
I want you to note two phrases. The people ate “as much as they wanted” and “all had enough to eat.” And there were twelve baskets of scraps. One pastor led a children’s story one Sunday morning and asked the children what you call that. An innocent little one quietly responded, “a miracle.” A more rough-around-the-edges boy said, “Leftovers.”
There’s a go-to principle that is often taught in this famous Bible story: Jesus takes our little and makes it a lot. There is encouragement in this application. If you want to share Jesus with someone but feel inadequate to be a witness, Jesus will take your effort and do more with it than you can imagine. And that goes for anything that you feel God calling you to do. When Jesus supplies the need there is more than enough. Just give your little, he will make it a lot.
But then, do we fall into the same trap as the crowd? Is this a form of sign-seeking?
4. Responding to the Sign (6:14-15; 30; 28-29)
“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself,” (14-15).
There are several clues that led the people to make this deduction about Jesus. It was Passover. They found Jesus on a mountain. He gave them bread in the wilderness. This all looks like Jesus is the Prophet Moses promised (Deut. 18:15ff). And still, feeding 20,000 people wasn’t enough.
Some people came to Jesus and said, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?” (30). What will you do?
The attitude of the crowd reflects the whole world concerning Jesus. When we want comfort in sorrow, strength in difficulty, peace amid turmoil, help in times of trouble, there is no one so wonderful as Jesus. We talk with him and walk with him. We open our hearts to him. But when he comes to us with a call to sacrifice, a challenge to serve or give, some effort is required (perhaps to forgive when it is not asked of us), or with a cross to pick up, the world will abandon such a Jesus. And we are forced to ask, “Do I only love Jesus for what I can get out of him?”
Am I saying that loving Jesus requires some kind of work? Am I making this Christianity thing too hard? Maybe. Some in the crowd asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (28-29).
That’s the focus right there. Jesus! The principle truth that Jesus can make your little a lot is true and a great one to believe. But I think the real focus should be Jesus himself. Jesus is the only One who can satisfy your deepest need. This is more than “bread.”
More than bread! What we want, what we need, what we lack…all of this may be just pointing to the deepest of all needs, our deepest hunger. They are pointing to Jesus.
People want answers to life’s problems. Christians are no different. We won’t find the answers in the usual places. Not in marriage. Not in successes at work. Not in our children or other relationships. Not in our achievements. Those are good things, but they don’t satisfy the deepest longing.
Church is not the answer. It’s not religion or even in serving on endless committees. Church is a good place to be in your pursuit of meaning, but only if it brings you into an encounter with Jesus. We want you to meet Jesus here. But the church is not Jesus.
Jesus is not a concept or a belief system. He is the living God, and he wants to have a relationship with you. Everything else is junk food: Doritos and Coke. He is the bread, the sustenance we need. More than bread, he is the life.
Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink,” (54-55). Set aside the gross imagery of cannibalism and see what Jesus is inviting you to do. Consume him and be consumed by him. As we say, you are what you eat.
Here is Jesus! Right in front of you. Jesus alone.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found what I’ve been looking for. Take that Bono.
AMEN
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